Hello John, I don't know if you wrote this so someone may answer them or if you're just penning down your thoughts, but if by chance you want someone to reply, let me try to 🙃

I would love to respond to all of the questions you have but it might not really explain anything to you, so I will only respond to your last question: How do you know God's will?

The only way to know God's will is to know and have a relationship with him, the best way to know him is through his word (I'm a Christian so it's the Bible for me). It is in the knowledge of God that we know his will for our lives.

Just take it as you wanting to know and have a relationship with someone, you have to get closer to the person to know their likes and dislikes.
I believe it will be easy to build and have faith in God when you truly know him.

I hope this helps.