does everyone have a spirit guide?

Every one of us has a guardian who serves to guide us when necessary but not on a regular or daily basis. Their objective is to learn from us and to exist beside us whilst we experience the physical life on earth. It is an arrangement made before we return to earth as babies. It is a mutual decision between us and the guardian. In my experience a guardian is usually someone who is known to us within the family, they can be traced and may be remembered by existing members of your family. They seem often to be of the time of two generations back. My own guardian is my great grandfather. He is there if I need him, but he never interferes unless my life is in danger or he is consulted directly. You will all have a guardian like that, it may be female or male but no-one is sent here alone, but you don't have to be aware of them.
There are also other members of your family and soul group who come around you to help you at times of difficulty and stress but they do not stay all the time. If you imagine that they are in the next room and can hear you call when you need them, then you are close to the reality of their existence and purpose in your life. They cannot help you directly unless you ask them to but they can be around you, remember that they learn from our experiences too and no opportunity to gain knowledge is missed.
Spirit guides however are a different matter and serve a different role. A spirit guide is someone/a soul who resides in higher realms than the average souls who have passed over. They are further developed and have more understanding than others but less than yet further evolved souls.
They are knowledgeable enough to be able to teach, they can control their energy sufficiently so as not to influence you in any way and they are drawn to you because of experiences you may be having and the level of development or understanding you have already achieved.
A spirit guide is not working as an individual and making decisions about your welfare without higher counsel, including that with your own soul choices. All considerations are taken into account as well as your actions and thoughts about issues affecting you so that only the best help comes to you.
Spirit guides often, but not always, present themselves as American Indians. It may seem like a cliche to have such a being with you because so many spirit workers claim to have them but they present this way for a reason. American Indians had a great understanding of the way the earth functioned, mother earth provided everything they needed to exist. They also accepted death as a natural part of life and embraced their time to pass over. They can teach the student a lot about their own energy, how to hold it, how to use it wisely and how to expand it, their knowledge is vast and valuable, but they also learn from the student and when their time with you is done, they move on to someone else and you gain another, more advanced guide to develop you further and they gain another student with different needs.
A spirit guide's purpose is to help you to grow but they cannot force the issue. Sometimes they wait around you for many months hoping that you will hear the call they send to you to discover yourself, your potential and power. That's not to say that everyone with a spirit guide will become a medium, far from it, there are many ways to develop spiritually other than mediumship. If, after an allotted time, you do not respond to the subtle hints being sent to you, the spirit guide will move on and work elsewhere until you are ready, if that day ever comes.
Only those of us who will work with and for spirit will have a guide for that development, they are not necessary for people who are not destined to work with them. It is possible to develop a deep and meaningful relationship with your guide if you meditate and connect with them regularly and that is how they should be used for clear instruction and strong connection. An open mind is needed to hear their guidance and determination to improve and grow because some of the lessons brought to you will be difficult to deal with. It is said by many mediums that guides will test you and that is true but they will never push you beyond your limits, only to them.
If you have been told that you have a spirit guide or sense that you have one, then you are receiving the call to develop spiritually. You can go to spiritualist church, seek out like-minded people, read the subject matter, join on-line groups for development, attend mind, body and spirit events and so on. We are lucky to live in an age when so much freedom and opportunity exists to be ourselves and remember that growth should not cost you a lot of money.
A spirit guide will manifest to you in a way that you can understand, for example, if you relate to an American Indian with teaching and strength, honesty and nature and you see him as a positive influence and a call to the beginning of your journey then that is what he will show you. If you ask him to show you his true self you will see something altogether different and beautiful.
So why do some people have guides and some not? Why are some of us destined to work with spirit and some not?
The earth and its inhabitants need to be in balance. It would serve no purpose if all the people were the same, having the same experiences, living the same lives and so some people have to be based in earth energy and some of us have to be based in universal energy. Some of us need to heal people in a traditional way through medicine and others need to work with the energy of an individual. There are very physical roles on earth and there are altruistic and vocational roles to fulfil, all are incredibly worthwhile and necessary.
Sometimes a person who wishes to develop spiritually becomes frustrated that they never sense, see or receive anything despite a lot of effort on their part, but it may not be their soul choice to use their energy that way and so results will not be forthcoming.
If you are lucky enough to have a guide, do work with them if you can, open your mind and heart to their teachings but always work safely, use psychic protection, check the answers you receive and always work with love and respect.