Hi lilith! I have a further example for you, which might help to explain the phrase more. Imagine this scenario: There is a new employee at work and nobody likes him, the other employees think he is odd, and they ignore him. Over time, people learn what he is like, they see his personality, he makes them laugh. They have now come to regard him as a friend (but they didnt before) To come to regard = to gain a new opinion of someone or something. So in your example.... 'setbacks' are negative things, but they can also encourage us to work harder, or to change ourselves. We can regard setbacks as something positive.

It means to "come to the realization" about something.

He even came to consider... He even came to face...