Wow! Thanks so much for sharing your testimony! A very well-said and compelling reply!
My views have developed over the years, a lot of reading, praying, thinking, and discussing with my younger brother, who is a writer and could, if he chose to, pastor a church, but he sees his calling in writing and speaking as the opportunity arises. He lives in Indonesia (we're not from there), and has spent a lot of time ministering to people of Oriental origin. Our discussions sometimes would be hard for others to follow, as we have a bit of a shorthand way of talking (as many siblings do), and we also have a very wacky sense of humor between us. My younger brother is one of only 2 people in the world who can make me laugh so hard and so long that my face and neck hurt.
As for my testimony, God nabbed me not too long after I graduated from High School. Being a musician, I attended concerts whenever I could, and at one with Glass Harp (Phil Keaggy's band), I noticed something "different" about them. I had seen them before, but something was different. Backstage after the show, my friends and I asked him how he learned to play so well on his guitar, and he smiled and looked at us and said one word: "Jesus". That name ehoed on my head like an echo chamber. A few months later, my friends and I went to see the band at their Wednesday night house gig in Kent, OH. After the show, I heard Phil say he needed a ride home, and I offered to give him the ride, which he accepted, on one condition: We had to come with him to a prayer meeting on the Kent State campus on our way.
We agreed, and when I walked into Newman Chapel, I was seeing a life-sized crucifix hanging over the altar in the Sanctuary (it was a Catholic chapel). Suddenly, what I was seeing wasn't a crucifix, I was seeing a living, moving scene in front of me that I later realized was something I never would have expected. I believe that God allowed me to see the actual Crucifixion, in a vision. I cannot even describe how it actually was, it was very bloody, and very brutal. I saw 3 crosses, and the man in the middle (Jesus), and I had this overwhelming sense of knowing that He died right there, at that time, for me. It was my sins that put Him there, it was my sins that he had taken upon Himself.
When the vision cleared, i was on my knees in the Chapel, tears running down my face, and I had this amazing sense of feeling completely clean for the first time in my life. The weight was gone! In all of this, not one word was spoken to me by anyone, no one led me in "the sinner's prayer". Like you, God moved on me, opened my eyes, opened my heart, and I received Him. I walked out of that chapel a changed man.
I wasn't looking for Christ, I wasn't feeling all that convicted of sin (I was raised in an Evangelical church, so I knew a lot of the stories and teachings of the bible, but they didn't mean anything to me). But I had an encounter with Christ that day, and my own experience has led me to a more Calvinist way of looking at things.
I'm not 100% Calvinist, there are some areas of difference I have with them from my own study of the Word. But I think they are right on at least 4 of the 5 points. For one thing, I think they're wrong about cessationism. God still does miracles today, and I have seen some, and experienced some..
As to free will, that can be a very divisive topic, but I have given you my view. I object to the idea that man's will in any way limits God, or that He limits Himself and defers to man's will. In my understanding, God is Sovereign, and man willingly does what God has ordained that he do, in the unveiling and production of His Purpose. Does God ordain what color socks I wear? No, I don't think He has to, but He certainly knew from before the foundation of the world what color socks I would wear today! To my knowledge, I don't believe that the color of my socks has any far-reaching or life-changing aspect, certainly not a key component of the Purpose and Plan of God for His Creation.
I've rambled a bit here, but an actual conversation is refreshing. I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot briefly a month or so ago, and I'm glad to set that right!
They all make up the body of Christ and are my Church. 
