Need help turn recursive functions into non recursive functions

I Have this program that inserts a text file into linked list and sorts it using merge sort. But for the larger text files I get a stack overflow error. So I think I need to turn the recursive functions into non recursive functions but I cannot figure out how to do that...So any help turning them into non recursive functions while still accomplishing what it needs too will be great!

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#include <iostream>
#include <cstdio>
#include <string>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
struct node
{
	string data;
	int num;
	struct node* next;
};
struct node* SortedMerge(node* a, node* b);
void FrontBackSplit(node* source, node** frontRef, node** backRef);
/* sorts the linked list by changing next pointers (not data) */
void MergeSort(struct node** headRef)
{
	node* head = *headRef;
	node* a;
	node* b;
	if ((head == NULL) || (head->next == NULL))
	{
		return;
	}
	FrontBackSplit(head, &a, &b);
	/*MergeSort(&a);
	MergeSort(&b);*/
	*headRef = SortedMerge(a, b);
}
/* merge the sorted linked lists */
node* SortedMerge(struct node* a, struct node* b)
{
	node* result = NULL;
	if (a == NULL)
		return b;
	else if (b==NULL)
		return a;
	if (a->data <= b->data)
	{
		result = a;
		result->next = SortedMerge(a->next, b);
	}
	else
	{
		result = b;
		result->next = SortedMerge(a, b->next);
	}
	return result;
}
    /* Split the nodes of the given list into front and back halves*/
void FrontBackSplit(node* source, node** frontRef, node** backRef)
{
	node* fast;
	node* slow;
	if (source==NULL || source->next==NULL)
	{
		*frontRef = source;
		*backRef = NULL;
	}
	else
	{
		slow = source;
		fast = source->next;
		while (fast != NULL)
		{
			fast = fast->next;
			if (fast != NULL)
			{
				slow = slow->next;
				fast = fast->next;
			}
		}
		*frontRef = source;
		*backRef = slow->next;
		slow->next = NULL;
	}
}
/* print nodes in a given linked list */
void printList(node *node)
{
	while (node != NULL)
	{
		cout<<node->data<<endl;
		node = node->next;
	}
}
/* insert a node at the beginging of the linked list */
void push(node** head_ref, string new_data)
{
	node *new_node = new node;
	new_node->data = new_data;
	new_node->next = (*head_ref);
	(*head_ref)    = new_node;
}
/* Main */
int main()
{
	int num;
	string file_name;
	string file;
	ifstream infile;
	node* res = NULL;
	node* a = NULL;
	cout << "What file would you like to open: ";
	getline(cin, file_name);
	infile.open(file_name);
	while(infile >> num && (getline(infile, file)))
	{
		push(&a, file);
	}
	MergeSort(&a);
	cout<<"\n Sorted Linked List is: \n";
	printList(a);
	system("Pause");
	return 0;
}
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