Funny thing about Paul. He wasn't told to go anywhere. He talked them into letting him go for the specific purpose of killing Christians. I don't know who you would consider the worst bad guy in the world, but imagine you had the tenacity and experience to assassinate that guy. (First thoughts for me go to the leader of North Korea.) And so you go to Washington and actually talk them into letting you go and doing just that. Because "bad guy" and "really deserves to die to save so many people." That was Paul's mindset on that trip. In his mind, he was going after the likes of Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. And we'd all be cheering him, had we known what he was up to.
In what free will scenario can you imagine being talked out of that mission?
AND, if you were actually able to be talked out of it, what words would have worked? Whatever they were, wouldn't it take hours to persuade you not to do that? And under which particular argument would you have been won over?
Now, Paul gets knocked off his ass and just a few sentences worked for him.
Was that his free will, or God's will?
You and I have something in common. We do NOT easily give in to changing our minds. Consider Saul up to this moment. Does he seem wishy-washy, and easy to change his mind too? Doesn't he seem more like us?
And yet -- zap! Mind changed! Really miraculous mind change too. He was off being Mr. Evangelist within half a year. Something really weird happened at that moment. And heavy-duty, no-holds-bar, rough-em-up debate wasn't it.
I really do believe in free choice. We are free to chose whatever we want only limited by our abilities and nature. (I can choose all I want to go to the moon, but I will never be going to the moon, limitations.)
Saul did not choose that light. He did not choose hitting the ground at that moment. He did not choose Jesus. Jesus chose him. And once he did that, then Paul freely chose Jesus too.
Same thing happened to me, minus blinding light and donkey ride. lol