Where have my recent messages gone on my S4

[AC Question]

My phone has stopped displaying the most recent text messages. When the message first comes in it flashes through as a preview, but then when I go into messages, it is nowhere to be seen. If I have a thread on my phone from the same person the old messages are there (e.g. up to the October 5th) but the thread disappears for any received after that. It means I can't see any recent messages and I can't respond to whatever message has been sent (unless I have committed it to memory).