Destiny takes us only half way. The rest we have to do on our own. And that part is where we usually go wrong

Divine decree and free will are not compatible. By looking back on my life, I can see areas where there simply was divine decree that such and such had to happen, -- regardless of anyone’s free will. I think a good example, is my wife’s intense desire to get me to marry her in spite of my trying to get her off my tail for years. I think I can see this in the children that I eventually had with her that had to come into the world with this set of two parents. I would personally have given anything in the world instead to have been able to marry a daughter of a true Torah scholar so that I could continue to learn Torah. That option was not in the cards. Eventually when the Divine Decree was fulfilled, that when I was left to the fate of free will. Then my own free will got me off track. I am not the only one who gets distracted by free will. All of us go haywire left to our own devices. We all do better when God decrees things (or that in moment of divine grace, we manage to depend on Divine Grace in spite of our own free will pointing us elsewhere). Destiny takes us only half way. The rest we have to do on our own. And that part is where we usually go wrong