A Grand Question: Fate -vs- Free Will

I have always believed (with various levels of ability to articulate this belief) that our lives are shaped by a combination of fate (some call this god's will and many other terms) and free will.

I do not believe that we are puppets solely acting out a play while God pulls all of the strings.
However, there is no question in my mind that God sometimes has her own plan that does not always seem convenient or desirable to us.

I believe that God is accessible to all of us, but is not a micro-manger either. God let's us mess up (in my case a lot) and I do believe that God has "bigger fish to fry" than helping me to find my car keys in the morning.

I recently read a wonderful description of fate/God's influence in our lives versus our free will in an outstanding book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love.

"We gallop though our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses-one foot is on the horse called "fate," the other on the horse called "free will." And the question you have to ask every day is-which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it is not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?"--Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love