How do I get my BlackBerry to stop automatically deleting texts before I can read them?

Question by TOASTY: How do I get my BlackBerry to stop automatically deleting texts before I can read them?
Here are the specifics:
Model: Verizon 8830
OS Version: 4.2.2.196

I woke up today and all the SMSs in my inbox were gone. I then had a friend attempt to send me a text, and I never received it or any notification of a waiting message. I called Verizon immediately and was told that I had used up too much internal memory, and that the Blackberry was erasing old texts, and

google blackberry maps ...