Yes, I do believe God is calling people to him. You’re right that he doesn’t make us go, but he also doesn’t make us stay, though he gives us his spirit. I don’t always understand it either, but that’s the nature of free will. If God forced us to love him, we would be robots. I’m reminded of Jesus weeping over the people of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37, emphasis mine):
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.