Everything Happens for a Reason

Reading through the article I continued to ask myself, Does free will exist or is everything predetermined? I honestly do not think that free will exists. Which would , in turn, make me a determinist this is because how would someone know if they were making a choice because of free will or that it was predetermined? I grew up with the saying that stated "everything happens for a reason" this relies on the thinking that everything is predetermined by someone else, something higher than ourselves. If a person were to have free will how would they make their choices. Without knowing that everything happens for a reason I think that a person would get really upset with ever decision that they make. For example, if a woman broke up with her boyfriend but didn't realize that everything happened for a reason and there was someone else out there for her she could become very unstable. I am not saying that I go in to every situation thinking the worst but I do come out of every situation saying that it must have happened for a reason, it may not be a clear reason but there must be a reason.