Did I exercise free will when I responded to the Gospel, or did God choose me before creation?

Les explains that it is impossible for a human being to fully reconcile the “whosoever will may come” invitation with being “chosen before the foundation of the world,” because the two are counter to each other. But this is not a problem for God. Les says he leaves it in God’s hand and brings the two to the middle: as soon as a person responds to the whosoever-will invitation, the Lord Jesus shouts throughout all heaven, “I chose Him before the foundation of the world.” So Les says you did exercise your free will when you responded to the Gospel, but on the other hand God can honestly say, “I chose you before anything was ever created.” He calls this a glorious thought, while admitting it cannot be fully understood and must be left in the hands of God, because this is what the Word says.