Can I be thankful for illness?

My head feels fuzzy, my sinuses are full to overflowing, and I can't lose this cough no matter HOW many medications I take. You would think I have every reason to want to be cranky, irritable and a hermit! But God has been working on me.... I don't me He's a medication, and He's doing what He's supposed to do. By that I also don't mean that I have called on Him and He is being effective for the purpose I called Him. God has been working on me, in that I am starting to see things more through His eyes. I have noticed myself being more gentle with my family, more selfless, more loving, etc. God is working on me by chiseling off the bad parts so that the good parts of me can show through. God has been softening the hard parts of me and smoothing out the rough parts. He is helping me to see that yes, even this cold is part of his plan, not that He wanted it to happen, but that He PLANNED IT TO HAPPEN, so that His glory could be revealed. I don't know if I can be thankful FOR this illness, but I can be thankful THROUGH this illness, knowing that GOD is holding me in His hand and that nothing is too big for His plan.