In short, don't expect to find perfection. Sometimes people are a diamond in the rough that will polish up nicely with a little encouragement.
Ok, now that we've said that ... let me just add that I was none of the above things when I got married. Well ... ok, at least I had a good job and the means to support a big family. But I was not a patient person, a selfless person, a person who accepted suffering and crosses, or a person who had a regular devotional life.
Of course, I wasn't Catholic either, but who's counting?
I converted four months after getting married, and have been learning ever since just how unready for marriage I was - and hopefully correcting my faults all along the way. But I still struggle with keeping a regular devotional life, let alone helping the rest of my family to do the same, and I still hate inconveniences that threaten my comfort. But at least I'm trying.
:-)
Do yourself a favor: work on preparing yourself for marriage now, and even if it never happens, you'll be a lot closer to sainthood than when you started; and if you do get married, make sure the one you're considering also has a strong devotional life. I cannot emphasize this enough. Do not bring children into a home where there is lack of discipline in devotion, where there is lack of regular prayer - which is just another way of saying, "don't get married."
